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Education Secretary Spellings Announces $2.4m Grant to University of HoustonFunds will support teachHOUSTON Program to improve preparation of math, science teachers

Houston-

The University of Houston has received a grant of up to $2.4 million to
improve teacher education in math and science following a competition that
included submissions from more than 50 universities nationwide.

The grant is one of only 12 to be awarded by the National Math and Science
Initiative (NMSI) to implement programs modeled after UTeach, a highly
successful math and science teacher preparation program at The University of
Texas at Austin. The University of Houston’s program is called
teachHOUSTON.

The grant was announced by U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings,
who earned a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of
Houston (UH).

“Texas has long been a pioneer for research-based, data-driven education. I’m
pleased that programs like UTeach and teachHOUSTON are continuing this
tradition and expanding a successful model dedicated to improving secondary
school instruction in math and science,” Spellings said. “By training highly
qualified high school math and science teachers, programs like these will help
prepare our nation's students for success in college and beyond.”

UH’s teachHOUSTON is patterned after the UTeach program that was
established in 1997 at UT-Austin as a new and improved way to introduce
undergraduate math and science majors to secondary school teaching. By offering
compact degree plans, early teaching experiences and financial assistance for
undergraduate students, UTeach provides a platform for raising the quantity and
quality of mathematics, science and computer science teachers in secondary
schools.

The University of Houston’s teachHOUSTON, which is committed to
increasing the number of well prepared science, mathematics and computer science
teachers for the community, is being co-directed by Robert Wimpelberg, dean of
the College of Education, and Jeff Morgan, chairman of the department of
mathematics. “We have critical shortages of qualified math and science
teachers,” Wimpelberg said, “and the most effective response requires a close
working relationship between colleges of math/science and colleges of education.
Fortunately, at UH we've been working on this relationship for some time. And
the launching of teachHOUSTON shows us how much it pays off,” he said.

“We welcomed the opportunity to partner with the College of Education in this
important teacher preparation initiative,” said John L. Bear, dean of the
College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics. “As part of a public university,
the college is committed to serving the needs of the Houston community. By
producing more teachers who are not only well versed in the disciplines they
will teach, but also experienced in the classroom by the time they receive their
degrees, we will help our area school districts to elevate the quality of math
and science instruction. It’s a winning situation all the way around: The
schools and their students benefit and so does society as a whole,” he said.

NMSI is a non-profit organization whose goal is to help the United States
maintain its global leadership position in technological innovation. ExxonMobil
contributed an initial $125 million to NMSI’s efforts. Additional donors include
the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

“The expansion of the UTeach program at the University of Houston is another
important step in improving student performance across the state of Texas,” said
Janet Mountain, executive director, Michael & Susan Dell Foundation. “We
believe Texas will continue to provide proven education models and programs that
will benefit school districts across the United States.”

“As a company that employs 14,000 engineers and scientists, ExxonMobil knows
how important it is to provide the best education and training possible for our
nation’s young people,” said Rex Tillerson, chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil
Corporation. “We are proud to be part of this important effort to begin to
address the critical shortage of math and science teachers in our schools.”

Other institutions receiving NMSI grants include Florida State University,
the University of Florida, the University of Colorado, the University of Kansas,
and the University of California campuses at Berkeley and Irvine.

About the National Math and Science Initiative (NMSINMSI is an
innovative non-profit organization created to scale programs proven to
positively impact math and science education in the U.S. For more information
about NMSI, visit their Web site at www.nationalmathandscience.org.

About The UTeach InstituteThe UTeach Institute was created to
provide direction and leadership to expand and replicate the UTeach mathematics,
science, and computer science teacher preparation program at universities across
the nation. The primary goal of replicating UTeach is to increase the quantity
and quality of mathematics, science, and computer science teachers in schools.
UTeach is a highly innovative and successful teacher preparation program, which
has doubled the number of mathematics and science majors being certified at The
University of Texas at Austin. For more information on the UTeach Institute,
visit their Web site at www.uteach-institute.org.

About Exxon Mobil CorporationExxon Mobil Corporation is a leading
international energy company whose subsidiaries have operations in most of the
world's countries. In the United States, ExxonMobil has significant exploration
and production, refining and marketing and chemicals operations. ExxonMobil is
one of the largest oil and gas producers and reserves holders in the United
States, with a portfolio including Alaska, onshore Gulf Coast and deepwater Gulf
of Mexico. In addition, there are approximately 13,000 Exxon and Mobil branded
service stations in the U.S., as well as seven refineries, four of which are
integrated.